As promised....

Knitting content. These be the latest shorties for the wee one. I did a different set up this time. I've been more willing to try out different options lately and I'm really glad I have been. I'm not so set in what works for me anymore and I'm enjoying what I'm getting.
Specs:
Cascade 220 in black for the trim annd Mosaic Moon Organic Wool in Sunny Days. Both were stash yarn and both were already used at some point. The last time I used the Mosaic Moon yarn was for a pair of newborn longies. It continues to amaze me how changing the size of a garment can change the look of the yarn. I'm really glad I picked the black for the trim. Last time I used red and it seemed to wash it out a bit. I like this look much more.
Size small with the backside increases an extended short rows. This was the first time doing this. I like it!
1x1 ribbing and a rolled cuff (though not as long as the pattern suggests).
Extra increases in the gusset for the crotch.

I have wondered how to get the crotch just so. All the pictures I have ever seen you can tell there is a crotch with gussets on them. Mine were hard to see. I tried getting tricky and pulling it forward for pictures but it just wasn't there. I think it was partially due to the fact that I never swatch and don't always use the right yarn. :D This time (just like on my last pair) I added extra increases. I think the number of stitches on this pair are the same for the size large (can't quite remember). I also moved my increase over. I changed it to the 2nd stitch and the 2nd to last. I think I get a much cleaner looking crotch.

On that note: Where else can one talk so much about non-holey, pretty crotches without blushing or being told to not talk dirty? :D

Spin me right round baby, right round...

I do have a knitting fo to show but only one picture made it off the camera for some reason so while I wait for the others I'll share something else!

I've been dying yarn (and it looks just like roving I dyed and then spun up...shockingly so) and spinning. Well not a ton of spinning. I finished up a very small single (maybe an ounce) a little bit ago and put it away. I used some up to make a small bag and liked it enough as a single that I decided to spin more up and keep it a 1 ply (more up meaning the rest of this ginormous 10 ounce ball I've been working on forever now).

A post was made a little bit ago on a board I frequent about youtube and spinning. It never dawned on me to watch spinning videos! I headed over there and watched a few. I'm surprised at how well I taught myself! There were a couple things I could do differently but it was more of a personal preference than an actual technique. Last night as I sat spinning I decided to try out some of the tricks and I have to say I am loving hand spinning even more. I'm getting better twist and more even thickness and I can go for longer chunks before stopping to wind up. I'm pretty impressed with myself and have been ripping through my mini balls like mad. It certainly has made it more enjoyable. Before it was such a stop and go process that I got bored easily. The new things I'm doing though make it all the more better.

Despite it's twisted appearance the skein shown has been washed and dried. I took it out of the ball for it's photo shoot though...I wanted something pretty and my tiny little cake was kind of sad looking. :)

A mile in these shoes

When we moved to the place we currently live the husband knew we had some relatives (on his side) but didn't know who or where. About a month after we moved here my father in law left us a message letting us know it was a cousin and he happened to be in our town! The husband called him up and we've become buddy buddy with them since then. The two grew up together, lived in the same house together (and seperately) at the one point, and went to shool together. They were childhood friends so this was a very nice surprise. When we first met up with them we got to meet his wife and found out they were pregnant with their first! That night after we got home I pulled out my knitting stuff. Naturally this baby needed something knit. They don't cloth diaper so that was out. I thought it presumptuous to knit nursing pads, blankets would take too long 9she was 36ish weeks when we irst met). Too young for toys. I needed something fast. I headed over to ravelry and happened upon the Magic Slippers pattern. It was perfect! I made the first one in a couple of hours one morning while the wee ones slept in. I think I wove in my ends at the 2 hour mark. SUPER fast. I even had yarn left over from my first nugget. That's how little yarn these take. I forgot about the second one (sort of..the first inch or so was done) until last week when we got a call about the blessing. I pulled everything out and finished it up that night. There is a slight difference in the two but I know why and it's easily remedied. I think if I make these again (which is very likely as they were a big hit!) I will add some length to them. These fit like ballet slippers and will very wuickly be outgrown. They are a tad on the short side in the back too. They are easy for a newborn to kick off and newborns don't kick a whole lot. This wee one kicked off the smaller one (the back is shorter on one) two or three times before we managed to get a decent shot.

Pattern: Magic Slippers

Needles: Size 1 dpn's

Yarn: Leftover Trekking XXL (from the husband's socks that he lost and is now on permanent no knit goods status for)

You can see the difference in height in that picture. When I did the first one I picked up a few too many stitches so I had extra decrease rounds in there. The second one I did correctly and didn't even think about it until it was too late. Oh well. I explained to the mama that if she gets it wet and then stretches it out and lets it dry she should be good to go.

I've picked up my Master's knitting stuff again. I whipped out 6 swatches so quickly I kind of got burnt out on it. I did one alst night and am working on one right now. I forgot how quickly these go! I'm debating how to go about these. Should I jsut knit them how I normally would and expect some resubmits? I mean part of this is having the chance of being told what you're doing wrong and fixing it. Or should I knit them to be as perfect/dead on as I can and send them int hat way and hope that minimizes my resubmits? I'm inclined to do both. The first because I want this to be a learning experience and I'd rather have them tell me what I need to fix based off how I currently knit. This is a tool to evaluate my current knitting style. If I always use a long tail cast on even when it's not the right one to use I should use that one for all my swatches unless it says not to. Use this to the fullest advantage you know? BUT I don't want to resubmit anything or have them think I'm a knitting idiot. The nervous school kid in me just wants to fit in and be told I'm cool and I knit well. :) But that's not an accurate portrayal of my knitting. I don't research various things. I do what works for me the same way every time. :)

I finished a sock the other day. I'm debating making it's mate. It was a top down and while it fits and I'm pleased with it I'm looking to change it. I want a perfect pattern and have yet to find it. I got to thinking the other day about doing one that did both top down and toe up techniques and was trying to figure out the logistics when I stumbled on a pattern that does just that! It wasn't a free pattern so I didn't pick it up but it just reaffirms I'm not crazy. :)

Down and Up Lace socks Funny thing is I've been working on a sock pattern witha very similar stitch pattern. Great minds think alike. ;)

Another one bites the dust

I'm on a roll with this thing called "finishing things you start". This is a very late trade set. Back when the littlest wee one was born we had a stint in time of no sleeping and colic. Normally a ring sling (which I own many) is the trick with my kids. However she was in and out so often that by the end of the day I was having to rethread the material through the rings and having fit issues (same as if you were pulling on a cotton shirt all day). I posted in search of a pouch and a mama offered to make me one. She did and got it to me (in a much more timely fashion than me I mgiht add!) and it saved my sanity. I've never been a pouch gal but apparently the youngest is. The original plan was I would make her a scarf out of my Donegal Tweed. Fast forward way too long and too many issues later we agreed to skip the scarf and go with some dishclothes. Seeing as I was so late on my end of the deal I wanted to make an artilery of rags. And so I did. I hope this ends up being fair! We have 1 ballband, 2 "idiot's dishcloths", and 2 tribbles (google any of those and you will find patterns but off the top of my head the ballband is on the Elmore-Pisgah site, the "idiot's dishcloth" is in a book [the name escapes me currently and I'm too lazy to go look at my bookshelf], and the tribbles are over at 1897 pearl). I managed to do the least amount of mods ever I think. :) The idiot ones are done in garter and I switched them up to stockinette (which I think lends to the less than square shape since my personal garter ones are much more square) and one of the tribbles is smaller (though that is even within the realm of the pattern since she says to go no smaller than 8 inches and that's what I did!). Other than that nothing was changed. Everything was done on size 5's and in Peaches and Cream Ombre (Peppercorn color). As soon as the forum we both use is open (down for server stuff) I'll shoot her a pm and let her know they are done, get her opinion on something, and then off they go! I hope she likes them. Knitting for other people makes me nervous.

And as for the soaker from yesterday. I sent the mama here to look because I was so nervous about it. When I approached her about doing it she only knew I was making something. I asked color preferences (though I already knew..just wanted to bbe sure) and various sizes on things and then set to work. I dyed the yarn myself with Kool-Aid and got colors very different than what I had planned. The husband kindly told me they looked like mold on pepto bismal. I think that tainted the whole project for me. lol I originally wanted to do a skirtie but it very much did not work out. I then opted for ruffly cuffs and some duplicate stitched design on the bum. After many failed tries at various things (I wanted the first letter of her name) with the husband letting me know they never looked like what I was aiming for him (I'm seeing a trend here) I gave up. I stuck it in my bag and stuck that in the closet. I had a hybrid soaker, a random purl round from the original idea, no working idea, and potentially ugly yarn. Talking to Dawn the other morning (after finishing the cuffs the night before) I decided to try and do a "belt" of sorts. I grabbed a crochet hook and started my way around with the intent to have extra length in the back to tie off in a bow. My first attempt failed because it was too tight and had no strretch anymore. So I took it out and tried again. When it was done it looked silly tied in a bow so I gave it a go making loops with the ends. It looked ok. My purl round was lifted though so you could see the purl bumps under the crocheted green (the color I used first). So I grabbed the pink and did another round with a flower on the end of that dangle. It works. Not my favorite thing but the mama loves it and wants it now. Like....yesterday now. A couple people have mentioned it looks like watermelons. I never thought of that! Honest to god the idea that I could do a watermelon theme with it totally escaped me! I was so caught up in it looking like pepto bismal I never saw that. Or thought it. Or had an inkling of it! I wish I had posted pics earlier and gotten ideas from people because I totally would have done black seeds on the bum and then had seed dangles or something. That's ok though. I'm done with that sucker. I am so looking forward to sending it off! I don't know why I had such trouble with this project! It wasn't even hard! When it gets to where it's going I'll be getting some action shots that I have been given the permission to post so stay tuned!

Another soaker

Two posts in one day. Surprising and rare huh? This is a hyrbid of sorts. I used the Curly Purly pattern for my numbers but the Picky Pants pattern for things like the waistband and short rows. The body is done on 8's and the cuffs on 2's and 3's.

I'll come tell more later. I've been madly posting it everywhere I can due to excitement to be DONE that I'm tired of repeating myself. :)

Tiny knitting

Sheesh! I've been trying to come post for days and something always come up! I'm finally here!

Stats: Newborn, 3 short row sets, Manos, Garter ridge cuffs, size 5's, 6's, and 8's (also used for the cuffs).

This is for Dawn. She is due to have another baby (boy!) here soon. Well not too soon....a couple months from now. I have had this Manos in my stash since I began knitting! I made S's first pair of shorties out of one skein and had originally bought two. I've been dying to use it up for the longest time now and had even start a wrap for us out of it. But it just wasn't "us". There was something that just never fit so it never got used. I decided to try it out again and what do you know! It works! And looks very nice if I do say so myself. I love the way this yarn knits up. It'sa slightly pilly yarn but for a newborn that shouldn't be an issue. I hope it fits and works for them. I haven't lanolized or blocked it. It takes at least 4 days to dry here so I'll let her do it. She knows this and is ok with it. :) I'm a slacker and have yet to get it in the mail but it should be at the latest tomorrow. Hopefully.

I have a couple more WIP's I'm so very close to finishing. They have been hounding me for the longest time now. Not because they are large or difficult. Mostly because I'm bad at gauging how long an item will take at times and I end up agreeing to do too much and my plate gets full. I'm really hoping to make some progress today. I finished up a part last night on one project that was taking a long time. I can officially say I think I am all ruffled out now!